Innholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2015 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Two bulbs, two different flavors: Fennel and scallions come into their own in early summer. Perhaps it’s time you welcomed both, along with their distinctive flavors, into your own garden and kitchen. Fennel, once considered a gourmet vegetable and used only in certain Mediterranean dishes, has earned a place in contemporary cookery. You can now find fennel bulbs in markets and spot them in home gardens. Fennel’s distinctive flavor is a bit like that of anise, licorice and tarragon, and it comes from compounds they all share. Botanically, fennel is kin to celery, dill, carrots, and other members of the Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae) family — plants that bear umbrella-shaped flower clusters. In fact, one form of fennel, grown as an herb for its leaves, flowers and seeds, is much like…

Cooked slowly in liquid, fennel’s anise flavor becomes muted, its texture is tenderized, and it takes on the earthiness of braised artichoke hearts. Cooking the bulbs with scallions adds a bit of pungency, and raisins steeped in sambuca, an anise-flavored liqueur, give back a bit of that licorice flavor, along with some sweetness. Yield: 4 servings. 4 fennel bulbs, about 3½ inches across 3 tbsp olive oil 1 cup chicken broth ½ cup dry vermouth or white wine 2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated Dash of salt 3 bay leaves ¼ cup raisins 3 tbsp sambuca 12 small scallions, roots trimmed off Freshly ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Trim the fennel bulbs and cut each in half lengthwise. In a shallow ovenproof casserole on the…

Summon the word “homestead” and you likely think of hardy farmers with 10 or more acres on which they keep livestock, grow and preserve a great deal of their own food, and fell trees to build their homes. But more modest-sized homesteads are more attainable for most people, and these smaller-scale acreages can embody oldschool homesteading in principle, if not in scope. Our small homestead is one of those. For the past 40 years, my wife, Lesley, and I have lived in a house we built ourselves, and we grow a lot of our own food on our half-acre of land. We began our homesteading lifestyle in the ’60s and ’70s, when the countercultural revolution was sweeping across the United States. The ’60s meant many different things to many people,…

While clearing land for additional garden space, we stockpiled a tremendous amount of branches and pine logs. We wanted more than a vegetable plot with straight lines, so we used short pine logs to outline our permanent garden beds. In addition to being funky, functional and free, the scrap wood offers habitat for insects, frogs and other beneficial creatures. With the abundance of branches, we created support tipis for climbing crops, such as peas. Kennebunkport, Maine…

“Maybe we should think twice before we buy those cheap steaks on sale.” Ruminating on Low-Cost Meat I couldn’t agree more with Richard Manning’s points in “The Multiple Benefits of Grass-Fed Meat” in the April/May 2015 issue. Most of the meat in U.S. supermarkets is raised in feedlots. This is in contrast to how we picture cattle happily grazing on lush, green pastures. The reality is cows crowded into filthy lots, eating some ungodly mixture that contains primarily corn, with numerous additives and antibiotics. The beef industry has worked hard to convince us that meat from corn-fed cattle is better. Where did this idea come from? I read that the advent of synthetic fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals about 50 years ago led to an overproduction of corn. A sensible…

I grew up in a small town in Ohio’s farm country, but I’ve lived my adult life in either urban or suburban settings. Like many, I have respect for those courageous enough to go “back to the land” and chuck all the cares of modern life. However, I’ve also developed a healthy respect for urban and suburban culture, comfort and convenience. In reading MOTHER EARTH NEWS, I find many ideas that apply just as well to wiser living in urban and suburban settings as they do to rural. There are urban homesteaders — people who raise chickens and other livestock in the city, who strive to get off the grid, and who are insisting that urban infrastructure reflect the ideals perpetuated by MOTHER. Still, I would like to see even…

Unprecedented droughts lasting several decades are expected to plague the Southwest and Central Plains during the last half of this century, according to a new report by authors from Columbia University, Cornell University and the NASA Goddard Institute. These future “megadroughts,” as scientists are calling them, would be more severe than any dry period experienced in North America within the past 1,000 years. The study’s authors, who published their findings in the journal Science Advances in February, paired historical data of past drought trends with the most advanced climate models to make their predictions. “In both the Southwest and Central Plains, we’re talking about risk levels of 80 percent that a 35-year-long drought will occur by the end of the century if climate change goes unmitigated,” says study co-author Toby…

Walk into some wonderful old Italian restaurant and you might be greeted by a table of antipasti — the plural of antipasto, which means “before the meal” — complete with sliced meats, cheeses, fish perhaps, and, my favorite, vegetables in olive oil. It’s hard not to make a meal of them alone. Florence fennel, either raw or cooked, makes a great antipasto. In this recipe, it’s thinly sliced and sautéed to caramelize its natural sugars. This gentle browning emphasizes the beautiful layered structure of the bulb. Yield: 4 to 6 servings. 4 fennel bulbs, 3 to 4 inches across ¼cup olive oil 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp fennel seeds (optional) Coarse sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 small bunch of fennel fronds (for garnish) Scrub and trim the fennel…

Just as there’s no such thing as a perfect garden, there’s no perfect gardener either. We all make mistakes, but, in doing so, we learn which ones never to repeat, and along the way we discover savvy strategies to add to our gardening routines. So, what are vegetable gardeners’ biggest blunders? I’ve made each of the following six gardening mistakes, and after talking with thousands of organic gardeners, I know I’m not alone. Get a head start by learning from our errors instead of laboring through your own. 1 Tackling Too Much Spring fever inspires big dreams among gardeners, and it’s easy to forget that every planting requires a commitment to future maintenance. Before you know it, your springtime aspirations will have turned into an overwhelming summer reality — weed,…

No wonder more and more folks are making a beeline for beekeeping — a single hive of these tiny, social pollinators can provide 40 to 60 pounds of golden honey per year, as well as a few pounds of ever-useful beeswax. Plus, many crops need honey bees (Apis mellifera) to achieve good fruit set and high yields. This pollination benefit is becoming increasingly important because of industrial agriculture’s dependency on toxic pesticides, which poison bees’ food supplies and result in lower pollinator populations. For the willing homesteader or backyard gardening enthusiast, dedicating a small amount of time every couple of weeks to maintaining a beehive will render sweet returns indeed. Like any livestock, bees need care and attention, though the time commitment can be far less than for dairy goats…

The average person in the United States spends just 6.7 percent of his or her budget on food consumed at home (not including eating out). This percentage has steadily decreased over time: In 1980, it was about 10 percent for food eaten at home, and in 1960, it was about 15 percent. Why do people in the United States shell out so little for their groceries today? As with most things, the answer is complex. Affordable food may appear to be a positive development, but it has a dark side. Thanks to taxpayer subsidies put in place by Big Ag lobbyists, as well as the chemical tricks of the food industry, our food system is flooded with cheap, poor-quality junk, and it’s pushed at us with billions of dollars in…

Cooling units known as “swamp coolers” chill the air using much less energy than conventional air conditioning. Swamp coolers have been around for decades, but older designs — also known as “direct evaporative coolers” — add a lot of moisture to indoor air, so they’ve been viable only for dry, low-humidity climates, such as the Southwest. Now, newer designs called “indirect evaporative coolers” are on the market. They take advantage of evaporative cooling effects, but chill the air without raising indoor humidity, meaning homes in more regions can tap this technology to stay cool and comfortable for less money and energy. An indirect evaporative cooler runs on up to 80 percent less energy than a conventional air conditioning unit. That’s because, like your refrigerator, standard AC uses electricity to power…

When my wife, Lee, and I retired in 2003, we resolved that one of our primary projects would be to significantly slash our consumption of fossil fuels by converting to renewable sources of energy, as well as by making our home more energy-efficient. This objective arose out of our awareness of the terrible environmental impacts of fossil fuel extraction, processing and transportation, and also of the pollution and climate change caused by the combustion of these fuels. Lee and I live on the outskirts of Orono, Maine, a town of about 10,000 in the south-central part of the state. Our 2,200-squarefoot, single-story home sits along a dead-end country road, near the top of a gentle slope at the head of a hayfield. It’s sheltered by forest on one side and…

Enjoy campfire cooking in the great outdoors without having to leave your own backyard by rustling up these two weekend projects: a homemade smoker and a DIY fire pit with a cooking grill. A backyard fire pit can be your family’s favorite place for conversation, relaxation and cooking — and you won’t have to limit the menu to marshmallows and hot dogs, because the pivoting, adjustable grate will expand your outdoor cooking options to include anything you’d try on a grill. Or, if you’d prefer a simpler evening gathering spot, you can build only the fire pit ring without the cooking grate. You can also spend just a few weekend hours assembling this simple homemade clay-pot smoker. Fire Pit with Grill 1 Go shopping. Find the items on the materials…

When living in a tiny home, using space efficiently is critical. In our 350-square-foot home, hanging laundry for four during the long winter months would be impossible, save for my husband’s “laundry bar” idea. Instead of putting up a traditional laundry line and attaching clothes with clothespins, we ran 3-inch-diameter poles from one side of the cabin to the other. Instead of clothespins, we use regular clothes hangers. Several loads of laundry will now fit onto just a few poles, the clothes are high enough to be out of our way, they dry in a day thanks to our home’s wood heat, and they add some much-needed moisture to the interior atmosphere in winter. Small laundry items, such as socks, underwear, washcloths and handkerchiefs, can take a lot of time…

Before taking the time to make an insecticide, step back and ask yourself the following questions. Have you correctly identified the problem? Gardeners can easily mistake injury caused by disease or extreme weather for pest damage. The choice of insecticide, if one is needed, depends on confirming the damage was indeed caused by a pest, and then identifying the pestilent perpetrator. Are you sure the problem is getting worse? Existing damage won’t disappear, but if new leaves are unafflicted, you likely don’t need to spray. Similarly, if the plant is still growing and producing despite cosmetic blemishes, then taking steps to boost plant growth is a better option than attacking pests. Do you know which beneficial insects to expect and how to identify them? These advantageous insects are usually present…